Masters of the World

"Oh, the games we play..."

Act III: Villains

The greater the deeds, the greater the hero, of course. The story of the hero who saved a single life pales next to the stories of those who saved dozens, hundreds, thousands of lives. But for a hero to save thousands of lives, you need a villain who can threaten thousands of lives.

And what sort of man has the power to threaten, directly or indirectly, such a multitude?

A ruler…

A general…

A powerful mage…

A wealthy merchant…

The greater their power, whatever form it may take, the greater the scope of their actions and the consequences of those actions. And the greater the story.

Of course, power alone doesn’t make one a villain. He needs something more.

A man who has everything he wants and needs is not a man to change the world.

A villain must desire, at some point in his life, something he does not yet possess. Something he is willing to use his vast power to achieve.

He and the hero are alike, in that respect. Neither are content with what they have, with things as they are. This is to be expected. Heroes and villains are a matter of perspective, after all. Everyone is the hero of their own story, and everyone is the villain of somebody else’s…